Rodney Stuckey Ignores Coach, Refuses To Enter Game

Austin said it best yesterday: The Pistons are falling apart. First it was public beef between second-year coach John Kuester and Tayshaun Prince; now it appears there’s tension with Rodney Stuckey as well. According to the Detroit Free Press‘s Vince Ellis, Stuckey refused to acknowledge Kuester during the third quarter of last night’s loss to Atlanta. Twice. He didn’t play the final 21 minutes.

Early in the third quarter, Kuester called for Stuckey twice during a stoppage in play and Stuckey didn’t acknowledge him.

Kuester immediately summoned DaJuan Summers from the bench and replaced Stuckey at the 9:04 mark of the quarter. Stuckey was done for the night after playing only 13 minutes. He finished with five points and three assists on 2-for-6 shooting.

The media didn’t get a chance to ask Kuester about his decision as he cut the interview time short.

All Stuckey would say in the Philips Arena locker room afterward is: “It is what it is.”

This isn’t a good sign for a team that’s 0-5. Does it have something to do with Stuckey not getting a contract extension on Monday? Maybe. But refusing to get in the game when you’re your team’s starting point guard isn’t a smart negotiating tactic.

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After the top teams that are stacked the league looks watered down. Most of these don’t even have a chance and it’s just the first week.

By: control

11.04.2010 @ 12:29 PM

Stucky has the wrong idea…you pull this shit AFTER you get guaranteed money…not BEFORE.

By: Kermit The Washington

11.04.2010 @ 12:31 PM

Dang, Pistons could be nice if Dumars would get his team under control. Are you trying to be a contender? Then bump Kuster and get a legit coach. Are you trying to rebuild? Then keep Kuster and the young guns and make some trades for some youth. You can’t do both at the same time, dummy! Geez…

By: Jay10do

11.04.2010 @ 12:40 PM

pistons suck ass….

By: control

11.04.2010 @ 12:44 PM

Jay10do

The whole city of Detroit sucks. The whole state of Michigan even…

This is coming from someone who lives in Detroit, of course I wasn’t born here, most of the people born in this area are fucked in the head. I AM being corrupted by this shit though.

By: ecco

11.04.2010 @ 12:47 PM

shut be cut from the team and no ohter nba team should hire him wtf is this refusing to “work”?
if someone would pull that shit in their normal job they would never find sth again, what an asshole.

By: ecco

11.04.2010 @ 12:48 PM

*should

By: randomguy

11.04.2010 @ 12:48 PM

Think the headline is not correct and more damning than what actually happened. From my understanding, Stuckey was in the game, did not respond to Kuester during a stoppage in play, was replaced by DaJuan Summers and never returned. That’s not cool, but it is different from refusing to enter a game.

By: Michorizo

11.04.2010 @ 12:49 PM

Stuckey should be Stuck on the bench after this

By: ERIC

11.04.2010 @ 12:52 PM

he’s not even good. Detroit really screwed up when they traded chauncy and handed the keys to the PG spot to stuckey. traded an all-star for a borderline starter.. dude is a chucker, not a real PG, cant pass.

what a delusional punk.

By: QQ

11.04.2010 @ 1:04 PM

Who the fuck cares about the Piston? And why the fuck is a 0-5 team getting coverage like this? WHO CARES?

By: K Dizzle

11.04.2010 @ 1:07 PM

Embarrassing. Saw a show on nbatv with Stuck talkin about how he wanted to be a role model in the community cuz Detroit is so f’d up and he was in postion to be a positive…….nice

By: dagwaller

11.04.2010 @ 1:30 PM

One of my employees tries this kind of shit. She won’t be seeing “the court” anytime soon, either.

By: Ekstor

11.04.2010 @ 1:41 PM

Shades of Del Harris and Van Exel… right down to the fact that Van Exel later said he never refused but misunderstood one of his commands.

By: S.A.C.

11.04.2010 @ 1:47 PM

Not sure if this was reported already, but the announcers who were covering the Celtic Piston game said that Stacy McGrady rolled his eyes at that coach to.

Seems like the Detroit coach has got problems.

By: control

11.04.2010 @ 1:52 PM

SAC

That wasn’t Stacy rolling her eyes at the coach, that’s just the way her eyes are…she’s always had those crazy lazy eyes with heavy lids that you can’t tell where she’s looking, why she’s looking, or even IF she’s looking.

By: Joe's Momma

11.04.2010 @ 2:18 PM

Hahaha, he is probably pissed he didn’t get an extension, and then got called out by his coach.

Dumb move. I envision a lot more time for Will The Thrill.

Who the hell is Stacy? Even with the lazy eye is she still cute? How about that gimpy knee I heard about? Is that the same girl? If so, I expect her to put out soon.

By: Ian

11.04.2010 @ 2:46 PM

wow even scrubs are pulling this shit now?
good thing i traded him 2 days ago.

By: Brown

11.04.2010 @ 3:51 PM

I wonder if Stuckey still thinks the Pistons are the best team in the league on paper? They stink on paper and stink even worse on the court.

Rip and Tayshaun are wasting away on this team. I wouldn’t blame them for demanding a trade and walking away from the team until they’re traded.

By: Zpear

11.04.2010 @ 4:10 PM

@control

…Get the fuck out of our state then!!!

By: Tim

11.04.2010 @ 6:49 PM

i’m with Zpear, get out control…

Clearly there are problems with this team. That said, they seemed to play a solid game last night…

By: rban

11.04.2010 @ 9:51 PM

Rip has no game left

By: control

11.04.2010 @ 11:10 PM

Zpear & Tim

If I leave, the average IQ of this idiot state would drop quite a bit. It’s idiots like you two that cause the brain drain, pushing your superiors out of here. This is like Idiocracy up in this bitch.

By: kwame

11.05.2010 @ 12:35 AM

control:

You’re obviously a loser with some bias against Michigan.

The fact is, the Pistons are in transition and nothing is safe right now. Rip and Tay are on their ways out and their team game is absent. Coach Q is not a force in the locker room. Thank you Ben Wallace but you’ll get no help besides Monroe and somehow Charlie V and Tay in the paint. At this point, abandon ship, and let the Pistons get comfortable shooting because they don’t have any team game going for them.

By: DVS

11.05.2010 @ 12:57 AM

Stuckey shouldn’t have done it, but after watching Kuester ruin this team I’m not surprised.
Publicly calling him out for lacking leadership then taking him out for no apparent reason. Kuester has lost this team with horrible decisions.

By: RC

11.05.2010 @ 7:51 AM

This is unprofessional and Stuckey would pay for this later on or even soon in his career. Even though your team is losing and the coaching staff sucks as a professional athlete you should still give your best night in and night out. It’s called character folks. And Stuckey just showed his.

By: Stylez G. Write

11.05.2010 @ 9:44 AM

Rofl McDonald @ Kuester’s Last Stand

By: Stylez G. Write

11.05.2010 @ 9:45 AM

Lol Cool J @ Welcome Back Kuester

By: ReddiRed

11.05.2010 @ 10:48 AM

@ CONTROL …… FUK U BITCH. GTFO OF THE CITY!!
YOU SOUND JUST LIKE YOUR FROM DOWNRIVER AND YOU PROBABLY DRIVE A 1983 FORD PICKUP WITH A REBEL FLAG FLYIN HIGH.
YOU BITCH.

All you other haters of Detroit….eat a dick.
All cities have their struggles and a good human stands behind one that is struggling and not kick them when they are down.

Now to the regular scheduled programming.

Yeah, Stuck was wrong for that, but, this situation makes it glaringly apparent that Kuester can’t coach grown men!! He does not allocate time right and he never took the time to establish a respect first relationship with the team.
It is time for him to go!!
FIRE KUESTER!!!!

By: Rainman

11.05.2010 @ 1:00 PM

this coming from a guy that said the Pistons will be the best team in the league makes that much more laughable.

By: drew

11.05.2010 @ 1:25 PM

coaches like kuester are a dime a dozen. get a new coach.

and i for one DO care about this article because stuckey is on my fantasy team. damn.

By: David

11.05.2010 @ 2:26 PM

All the more reason for the league to contract the number of teams they have and improve the talent pool. Not sure if Stuckey would make any team at that point.